Question

The term biotechnology was given in 1917 by
(A) Arber
(B) Nathans
(C) Karl Erkey
(D) Kornberg

Answer 1

Biotechnology is a field of science that deals with the understanding and application of biological methods to the welfare of humans. It covers a wide range of branches from food industry to pharmaceutical industry.

Complete answer:
To find who termed the word biotechnology, let us look at the history of biotechnology. Biotechnology was not the same as it is today in the beginning of the century. It emerged from the field of zymurgy or zymotechnology, which is the study of biochemical fermentations processes. Since the brewing industry was yielding more revenue to Germany, much importance was given to elaborately study about it. To meet the increasing demand, scientists came up with new sources for brewing, i.e., acetone from maize and started analysing the other products of fermentation like lactic acid. This quickly paved the way for the development of the field.
However, food scarcity and fading of resources alerted people to come up with industrial solutions. At this point, Karl Erkey proposed a new technology of converting raw materials into useful products. So he set up a slaughterhouse with around 1000 pigs and a farm to accommodate 50,000 pigs. It was successful resulting in 1,00,000 pigs by the end of first year. Later, Erkey wrote a book on “Biotechnology of Meat, Fat and Milk Production in an Agricultural Large-Scale Farm” discussing how raw materials can be used to make useful products to meet societal needs.

Thus, the term biotechnology was given in 1917 by (C) Karl Erkey.

Note: The introduction of the word ‘biotechnology’ entitled in his book entered into the dictionary. It started encouraging people to make new products like fermented non-alcoholic drinks. Then, drugs like penicillin, cortisol and steroids were mass produced and were available to people for lower price. Today biotechnology comprises a vast variety of fields, grouped as follows:

Red or medical biotechnology
Green or agricultural biotechnology
White or industrial biotechnology
Blue or marine biotechnology